Otaru Music Box Museum and a steam clock ~the must-visit place in Otaru~

The displays and ambiance are really romantic. You’ll never get bored when you are here. There are also some glassworks and they go really well with music boxes.

This is a steam clock in front of the museum. This clock was made by the same engineer as the one in Vancouver. You cannot find them anywhere else except Otaru and Vancouver.

Every 15 minutes the clock chimed the time with white steams and whistles.

The place where has a steam clock is call “Märchen intersection” and this is the end of “Ironai street”. Now let’s go back a bit and walk towards to “Asakusabashi”.

This is the famous view spot of Otaru canal!

The pictures often you’ll see on the guide books are definitely taken from this Asakusabashi.

There are cruise ships in Otaru canal too. You can get a ticket at Chuoubashi (中央橋), so check it out if you are interested!

There are many RICKSHAW carriages along the canal. Usually RICKSHAW are quite pricy in Tokyo and Kyoto but here it’s quite reasonable as you can get on from ￥3000～ for 1.2km. I think it’s a really good idea to explore around Otaru by RICKSHAW.

Get relaxed at footbath at Ryokan “Furukawa (ふる川)“

When you get tired after walking around Otaru, then the ideal place to refresh yourself is a footbath. The footbaths are quite common in Japan especially at the Onsen town. Just put your feet in the pool.

It’s totally free and everyone can try. The sign says, “Feel free to try footbath and remove your tiredness” This place is owned by a Ryokan call “Otaru Furukawa(小樽 ふる川)”

It was warm and really nice. I was able to remove my fatigue on my feet.

After a while the hostess form the Ryokan came to us and offered some towels. What a great hospitality as we were just passing by and not staying in this Ryokan. I thought I should have stayed because it must be great with its huge hospitality.

Enjoy a Dinner at “Otaru BINE” the wine café restaurant

It was a bit early but we had a dinner at Otaru BINE. This restaurant used to be Hokkaido Bank and is registered as a “historical protected structure”. When you are inside, you will feel how it was a hundred years ago, the time the western culture arrived and developed in Japan.

Otaru is the largest producer of Hokkaido wine. Here at Otaru BINE, of course you can drink various kinds of Otaru wine but also you can try wine tasting which they offer two to three different wine to taste for.

We ordered a small bottle♪ It’s a girl’s trip we must enjoy!

The interior feels like you are in Europe.

The food was wonderful.

The menu was full of cheese, such as assort of cheese plate, cheese fondue, pizza with 4 kinds of cheese etc… They use a lot of delicious cheese on the menu which are made of fresh milk from Hokkaido. The great things was all dishes go really well with wine!

A top floor bar in Hotel Nord

Next, we went to a top floor bar call “Kita Club(北クラブ)” in Hotel Nord. The dorm shaped sealing with light-up of constellations looked great.

If you seat on the window side, you can see the night view of beautiful Otaru.

We ordered cocktails and assort of fruits and sweets plates.

It was a lovely night remembering how nice our Otaru trip was.

We were there until 10pm and headed back to Sapporo.
The last train to Sapporo is 11:30pm so there are plenty time to enjoy Otaru.

Sum Up Otaru Trip!

Otaru was wonderful place which I felt the time goes by slowly and calm.

During the summer the weather is cooler than Honshu and the winter is not that cold as Sapporo. Otaru has a lot of lovely historical buildings and hand crafts, also we cannot forget delicious foods and drinks. Otaru might not as major touristic place as Kyoto and other places in Japan but still an attractive place to spend some time during your stay.

Visit Otaru with your friends, families and of course with your boy/girl friend. Even for a solo traveler I’m sure you’ll have a great time here!

Written by Ayaka

Born and raised in Hakodate. I drive around Sapporo often too. I love fashion, sweets, and beautiful scenery. I work at a hotel in Hakodate.

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